Cowboys leave bruising in Arlington behind; throw OSU’s 12th no-hitter

the weekend, the OSU pitching staff rebounded Tuesday in a 2-0 win against California Baptist.

It is OSU’s first nohitter since Justin Campbell did it against Kansas in 2021 and first combined no-hitter since 1993. It is the 12th no-hitter in program history.

OSU third baseman

Aidan Meola charged a bouncing ball in the ninth inning. He let the ball take a tiny third hop before securing it in his bare hand and winging it across the diamond in time for an out.

Meola’s effort was the most dramatic moment in a script OSU couldn’t have written any better: A combined no-hitter in the home-opener. Just days removed from getting brutalized in the College Baseball Showdown over people – especially regarding an individual with the persona of Calcagno’s.

OSU surrendered 32 runs in the first three games of the season against Missouri, Vanderbilt and Arkansas. The last game, an 18-1 blowout, was mercifully called after seven innings.

Turning around and blanking CBU, a team that took two of three from the Oklahoma Sooners, is precisely what the Cowboy pitching staff needed.

“A game like tonight can do tremendous things for your confidence,” OSU coach Josh Holliday said.

“The games in Arlington served a purpose as well. We’ve come out of the chute playing some tough, good baseball teams. We have some guys getting their feet wet in all phases of the game, whether its position players getting their first tastes of this level or pitchers, and we’re doing it against elite competition. There is no built-in forgiveness to the schedule. It’ll continue to be that way. Tonight’s game helped our team grow.”

Janzen Keisel, a BYU transfer, got the start and pitched 5 1/3 innings. He struck out 11 and walked only one. He said the first couple innings weren’t his sharpest, but pitching coach Rob Walton kept him mentally focused in his first start with the Cowboys.

After Keisel exited to a standing ovation, junior Isaac Stebens, freshman Drew Blake and junior Evan O’Toole pitched flawlessly in matchup situations. They set the stage for closer Nolan McLean, who earned his second save of the season. The pitching performance will go down in history but will come up in the present as a confidence-booster and a roadmap for success.

“This weekend we kind of struggled throwing strikes a little bit,” Keisel said. “So best thing was just coming out and throwing strikes and getting ahead on hitters and when you get ahead, obviously you get positive results.” sports.ed@ocolly.com

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Regardless of the number of accolades, overall record or individual championships, each OSU wrestler seems to have a feel-good story or a moment of truth with “coach G.”

The development:

A day in the weight room with Calcagno has a variety of reviews. However, there’s one commonality.

“He always gets what he wants out of you,” OSU 133-ponder Daton Fix said. “Coach G, he’ll be friendly with you, but he’ll also tell you how he feels, for better or for worse.”

Nick Piccininni, a former OSU wrestler and MMA fighter, recalls his first interaction with Calcagno.

Piccininni just left a team meeting, still detoxing from what he felt was a long day. When suddenly, a middle-height hulk of a man approached the then-true freshman and spoke words that stick with him years later.

“What’s up my pizano?” Calcagno called out.

Piccininni greeted his coach with a hug and an extensive conversation.

“At the time, I was thinking to myself, ‘I like this guy,’” Piccininni said. “Maybe it was because he was Italian, and I was Italian.”

Of course, first impressions aren’t always precise encapsulations for

During the ensuing session, Piccininni’s perspective shifted after attaining a glimpse into an everyday lifting session with OSU’s beloved strength and conditioning coach.

“I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t ready for it,” Piccininni said. “It’s like he has an alter-ego in the weight room.”

Calcagno is often described as a perfectionist, bringing high-intensity workouts every weight room session. It wasn’t far-fetched for wrestlers to be too sore to sit down in a classroom chair the following day – in spite of the shape they were in.

Because of scheduling conflict during the first semester of his freshman year, Piccininni underwent one-on-one lifting sessions with Calcagno. He had a biology lab at 7:30 a.m. and team lifts were scheduled 30 minutes prior. So, he woke up around 4 a.m. every lift day just to knock out his mandatory lifting sessions.

At 5:30 a.m., he would meet with Calcagno in the weight room and undergo the same workouts he would in the team sessions.

“If you’re getting one-on-one lifting sessions with coach Gary Calcagno, you better be ready,” Piccininni said.

“But looking back on it I cherish those moments. As much as I hated them back then, I kinda miss them now.”

As rigorous and tir- ing as the workouts were, he formed a unique bond with Calcagno. The two got to know each other on a more personal level, which he credits largely to his 7:30 a.m. biology lab.

Piccininni came to Stillwater as an underweight wrestler, hoping to wrestle at 125 pounds for the Cowboys. Four years later, he concluded one of the most decorated careers in OSU wrestling history – holding a 112-17 dual record and four individual Big 12 championships.

“I was the kid in the weight room who was the odd man out having one plate on the bar when everyone else had two or three,” former OSU wrestler Chris Pendleton said. “I came into OSU as a 140-pound freshman and left at 215 pounds. I couldn’t have done it without Gary.”’